Bed-bottom



UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE. I

cHARLns BIGEoN, or CINCINNATI, OHIO.

BED-BOTTOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,096, datedSeptemberiS, 1885.

Application filed December 12, 1884. (No model.)

To all w/wmI itmay concern.- it

Be it known that I, OnARL-nsBIGEoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cincinnati, Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Bed-Bottoms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to spring bed-bottoms of the class wherein anelastic web is formed on or attached to a frame. It consists, first, inthe improved construction of the elastic web, the same being made up ofa number of flat detachable wire springs bent in curved form, withprojecting ends suit-able for attaching to the curved loops oftwoadjacent springs, a connected series of which thus forms a continuoussurface, and, secondly, in the provision and arrangement of flexiblesupportingbraces mounted on the lower frame-work, and extendingdiagonally upward to points on the outer railing or frame, upon andbetween the sides of which is stretched the elastic web, all as morefully hereinafter pointed out.

Mechanism illustrating my improvement is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in

which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bedframe with braces and siderailing, the web removed; Fig. 2, a plan of a portion of weband side andend rail; Fig. 3, a detail view of the curved spring; Fig. 4, a detailView illustrating one method of attaching the flexible braces on thelower frame, and Fig. 5 a form of flexible brace and its attachment.

In the drawings, A designates the end parts of the lower frame, B theside pieces, and A the cross-piece, one or more of which may be used.

cent springs; and with these curved springs or loops I build up anelastic web, W, in which the projecting ends of each loop are hooked tothe curved part of a loop at either.

side. Each loop receives through its crossed ends a closing pullresisted by the elasticity of the curve, and transmits the strain to theadjacent hook ends of other loops, the whole forming a strong andelastic surface.

In forming the web I may interpose at convenient intervals lines ofplain rings r, for convenience in detaching the webin strips for readypackage, and I preferably attach the hook ends h h to rings upon the endand side I rails for a similar purpose.

I provide the foot of the braces a with coiled springs on centralsupporting-cores fastened to the frame, the tendency of which to uncoilthrows the free ends of the braces toward the vertical and resistsdepression toward the horizontal positions; or I may form the bracesthemselves of flexible. material sufficiently stiff to resist the thrustwhen the bed is cocupied, and bent in a curve upward, in which Thusconstructed, the bed-bottom operates as follows: The elastic web or mat,being stretched between the side and end rails, forms a flat surface,which, upon receiving a weight, yields or stretches, due to the closingup of the curved loops. As the web stretches it is allowed to sink,compressing or winding up the springs at the foot of the diagonalbraces, or bending the bracestoward a straight line in case the bracesin Fig. 5 are used, since it carries their free ends downward, and thedistribution of strain is thus made in the most perfect and naturalmanner.

The advantages of this invention may be enumerated as, first, superiorelasticity of surface; second, strength and elasticity in the verticaldirection; third, accessibility for cleaning and removing insects andthe prevention of the same; fourth, evenness of surface, the ease withwhich all the springs may be removed or replaced when required fordismounting or setting up a bed, all of which featuresare here met within a marked degree.

I am aware that a wire fabric for bed-bottoms has been heretofore used,consisting of wire loops hooked together; but such loops were ofdifferent forms, and not, therefore, interchangeable as betweenthemselves; and, moreover, although embracing loops approximatelysimilar in form to mine, the same were hung together in such manner asto involve a tensional strain instead of a compressional strain, as inmy improvement; nor is such rm ric equally elastic in both directions,as in my improvement.

I am also aware that a frame composed of. separate end and side pieceshas been used in spring bed-bottoms; but in such case the opposite railswere held by ties crossing each other and secured together, and thewhole supported upon spiral springs acting vertically. Suchconstruction, as is obvious, could not be used with a fabric elastic inboth directions.

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1.The elastic mat for bed-bottoms, composed of the detachable andinterchangeable wire loops S, formed and hung together as shown, thefree arms of one connecting with the circles of adjacent loops, andjoined along one or more medial lines and to the containing frames withplain rings or liuks,substantially as set forth.

2. In aspring bed-bottom, the combination of a permanent base-frame, anupper frame for the wire fabric, consisting of separate andindependently-movable end and side rails, and spring-braces secured atone end to the rail of the upper frame and passing diagonally beneathand across the fabric to the lower frame,

so that the depression ofthe upper frame tends to thrust thecorresponding upper rails apart, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in aspring bed-bottom, ofa wire fabric elastic inboth directions,asupporting-frame consisting of separate side and endpieces,apermanentbase-frame, andspringbraces supporting the end and sidepieces of the mat-frame from opposite or intermediate braces of thebase-frame, substantially as set forth.

4. A spring bed-bottom composed of a lower frame, A A B B, supportingthe foot of the braces a, the flexible braces a extending thencediagonally upward and clasped to the rails R above, the rails R, and theelastic fabric WV.

stretched between the rails R, all constructed my hand in the presenceof two subscribing.

witnesses.

CHARLES BIGEON.

Witnesses:

R. M. HOSEA, L. M. HOSEA.

